Friday, November 7, 2014

Gatehaven by Molly Noble Bull

This
is a Christian Gothic novel set in Scotland and England in 1784. It
centers on a family of Huguenots who had escaped France and moved to
Luss, Scotland. Unknown to the Christian family, a Frenchman had
vowed revenge on Rachel Aimee, mother of the family. She had rebuffed
his amorous advances in France.

Years
later, the evil Leon Picard has moved to England, pursuing his
revenge. He convinces Lord Northon, deeply indebted to Picard because
of gambling, to go to Scotland and bring Rachel back to Gatehaven.
Lord Northon mistakenly woos the daughter, Shannon, and convinces her
she is to be his wife. Against the wishes of her family, Shannon
agrees to go with the Lord (and an escort) back to England to meet
his family. What she finds there is a spiritual situation that
quickly puts Shannon's life in danger.

An
enlightening aspect of the novel for me was the attention to
spiritual warfare. The novel is set in a time when spiritual warfare
was little understood. Only clergy studied the Bible and laypeople
had little understanding of issues like the devil and his work.
Fortunately, Shannon's potential Scottish beau, Ian, insisted he go
with Shannon, planning to study under a vicar in England. The
conversations Ian and the vicar have reveal the level of biblical
understanding the lay Christian had at the time. At one point Ian had
to find a book giving word meanings (dictionary) to understand what
he was reading in the Bible. Only wealthier people had such a book
and a word like “abomination” was meaningless unless it had been
explained in a sermon.

Although
there is discussion of spiritual warfare, you'll not read of any
casting out of demons or anything like that. Even though Ian becomes
aware of spiritual warfare, oddly enough, neither he nor any of the
characters actually engage in it. While we read about hooded figures
meeting, I did not read anything that would have kept me awake at
night.

The
author says she has always been interested in genealogy and when she
found that one branch of her family came from Luss, Scotland, and
another branch included French Huguenots, she felt compelled to write
about her ancestors. I trust she has done her research in making sure
the way she portrays Christian belief and spiritual warfare at the
time is accurate. We may think Christians of all ages have had an
understanding of the Bible similar to ours today. This novel reminds
us that study helps like dictionaries, concordances, and Greek study
books were not available to the layman at the time of this novel.

Those
who enjoy Gothic novels with a strong Christian theme will enjoy this
one. Good and evil are definitely portrayed as is the ease with which
one who is not adequately trained in recognizing evil can be drawn
into it. I felt the end was rather anticlimactic and rushed. Other
than that, an interesting historical novel.

Molly
Noble Bull is a native Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M
University at Kingsville. Her novel, Gatehaven, won the grand
prize in the Creation House Fiction Writing Contest 2013. She and her
husband have three grown sons and six grandchildren. Find out more at
www.mollynoblebull.com.

Creation
House, 258 pages.

I
received a complimentary digital copy of this book through The Book
Club Network for the purpose of an independent and honest review.

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About Me

I am a retired Christian bookstore owner of 33 years. I still love books and read as many as I can, blogging my reviews. I have also taken up photography and sell photos of Whidbey Island and nearby landscapes.